Publisher's Description

Marty Dandridge Olson is ready to leave behind the pain of the past.Answering an advertisement for a "Lone Star bride," she leaves her Texas ranch and heads to Denver to marry a man she doesn't know.

Jake Wythe is the man waiting for her.Burned by love, he marries now simply to satisfy the board of Morgan Bank, which believes a man of his standing in society should be wed. Together Jake and Marty agree they are done with romance and love and will make this nothing more than a marriage of convenience. When missing money and a collapsing economy threaten his job, Jake's yearning to return to ranching grows ever stronger, much to Marty's dismay. But a fondness has grown between them, as well, further complicating matters.What will happen when their relationship shifts in unexpected ways...and dreams and secrets collide?

Author Bio

Tracie Peterson is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than 90 novels. Tracie also teaches writing workshops at a variety of conferences on subjects such as inspirational romance and historical research. She and her family live in Belgrade, Montana. Learn more at www.traciepeterson.com.

This is my first book to read of Tracie Perterson and it want be my last. I won this book through Goodreads, Tracie Peterson, and Bethany House Publisher. I just want to say , thank you and I really loved it. I had no problems following the story or the characters. When I started reading A Sensible Arrangement I did not want to put it down. Marty Dandridge Olson lives in Texas and lost her husband to an accident. She cannot get over his lost and blames God for him getting killed. She is ready to leave her ranch. She answered an ad in the paper for a lone Star Bride who would be willing to leave Texas and move to Denver. This is to be a sensible arrangement with no love or romance, but he would take care of his bride. Widower Jake Wythe is a bank manger in Denver and the bank wants him to get married again, he will do what the bank wants. He posted the ad, now he only wants a Lone Star bride from Texas. Marty struggles with what to do . She has a hard time getting to Denver.. Yes Marty and Jake does marry and they both agree that it will be in name only, no love or romance. Could you marry someone far away that you had never met before and without love? I also loved the servants in this story. I felt sorry for some of them and then, I laughed at some of them. There is some hardships that takes place in the banks. Marty lies to her family about her marriage and also to her husband. Can this marriage work with lies and no love? Can Marty get alone with the high society ladies of the bank of Denver. What does Jake do when he finds out about Marty's lies, There was to be no lies between them . I really loved A Sensible Arrangement book #1 of the Lone Star Brides. It is an Historical romance and Christian fiction. I am looking forward to reading book #2 A Moment In Time.

I won this book from Goodreads and was not required to give a positive review. This is my review and I have given it.

A Sensible Arrangement is the first book in Traci Peterson's new Lone Star Bride series. We first meet Martha Olsen in Chasing the Sun, her sister Hannah's story.

Martha "Marty" Olson answers an ad from a banker in Denver Colorado for a bride and she is more than ready to leave Texas and all its painful memories behind forever. Losing her husband devastated her and banker Jake Wythe wants that theirs will be a marriage in name only which suites Marty just fine.

Jake has had his heart shattered not once, but twice. The board of directors at the bank that he manages insists that he be married, so he decides that a mail order bride from his home state of Texas is the best solution because one day he plans to return to Texas and buy his own ranch.

I really enjoyed reading about Marty's journey. I really found myself identifying with her in so many ways. Like so many of us, she takes the long way around. Thinking to bury her great pain with a new life, trying fit into a lifestyle that contradicts all that she believes in, running away from God rather running toward Him. Eventually her true nature came out and God shows her how to deal with her pain by letting him help her.

I found Jake to be a little less intriguing than I would have liked. He was a little too predictable, however I really enjoyed him more toward the end when he was finding the truth about himself and his feelings about Marty.

As with all of the authors previous books, we get some real historical facts blended in with the story and well as good amount of God and his love and salvation. I enjoyed the book tremendously and would not hesitate to recommend it.

This book is a great read! Other reviews have explained it perfectly. When reading this book some of the characters past references seemed familiar to me. After doing some searching I discovered that I had read about Marty in the Land of Lone Star Series and Jake Wyeths character was in the Striking a Match series. This book can be read without reading the other series. But if you'd like to understand the characters a little more I would read the other series first. They are great stories so it's definitely worth the time.

Tracie wrote a very entertaining book, it starts out with some excitement then calms down and has you pulling for Marty and Jake to have more than a "in name only" marriage. Most people have kept a secret, told what they call a "white lie", or stretched/twisted the truth but have you really thought what not trusting the person you are hiding this information from can do to your relationship? As Tracie does with Marty, the longer you keep this information the more damage it "could" do. I like the way Marty stands up against her "society friends" too.